


Once Upon a Time

by Ninalb



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: hands of time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 15:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17769509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninalb/pseuds/Ninalb
Summary: Krux and Acronix are trying to change the past. When technology started disappearing, what happens to Zane?A rewrite of one of the scenes from the show. I felt like they could have explored the topic more.





	Once Upon a Time

"Woah, what happened to the city?" Cole asked, gesturing to it on the horizon.

The light blue skyscrapers that once littered the air had been swallowed up, replaced with smaller buildings made of wood that was dressed in red, gold, and brown colors.

"It looks ancient, like forty years old," Cole said, astonished.

"You would know, dinosaur." Jay laughed.

They stared blankly at the skyline for a second, waiting for it to turn back to normal. Nothing. And that was not a good sign.

"Something must have happened in the past with the time blades." Lloyd thought aloud staring into the sky, half expecting Krux and Acronix to fall out of the air.

"Where are my watch and keypad?" Cyrus exclaimed, looking around for it, before noticing he had been stripped of all his high tech and highly valuable gear.

"It must be the time blades, time has been altered where there isn't as advanced technology," Kai's father groaned, leaning heavily into the support of his wife's arms.

"If all the technology's gone then..." Jay murmured.

"Zane!" Lloyd shouted, turning around in hopes that the nindroid was still standing behind him.

"He's gone." Jay whimpered, wondering how they could lose him again. Wasn't once enough?

"He's over here!" Cole called having spotted the nindroid in the distance.

"How did he get over there?" Lloyd sighed in relief.

They ran over to him, the unresponsive nindroid half in a puddle of water, blue eyes staring blankly into the distance, head titled so that he could watch them run over to him if he was watching at all.

"How is he not...you know..." Jay shyly finished with an explosion sound complete with hand gestures and everything.

"I don't know." Lloyd shrugged, just happy that he wasn't.

"Zane?" Cole called, waving a hand in front of his eyes while looking to see if there was a reaction.

Unsettled by Zane's lack of response, Jay motioned for Cole to pick Zane up. He was wearing a pair of entirely different clothes however they were white like usual though.

"He feels much lighter than I remembered his old body being," Cole noted lifting him up and out of the puddle.

Jay pulled Zane's top off, handing it Lloyd. He started to feel along Zane's chest looking for the small niche that allowed someone to open the door to his inner mechanics. He couldn't feel it, so he tried again, this time a more widespread search.

"It's not there," Jay said, turning to his teammates.

"What do you mean it's not there?" Cole said, shifting his grip around Zane.

"Let me look," Lloyd offered.

Jay stepped back and Lloyd searched for the niche but couldn't find it either. He stepped back with a puzzled look on his face, turning to Jay almost as if he had figured out the answer.

"Ugh, where's Zane when you need him to figure something out?" Jay sighed, ultimately stumped.

Zane suddenly groaned, seizing back to life. He curled inwards before falling limp again. Cole dropped him in shock leaving Zane to drop back down into the puddle. Zane coughed violently, hands moving to push his face out of the water.

"Father?" Zane asked weakly.

He pulled his legs up, so he was at least on his knees now, hair dripping water back into the puddle.

"Father?" Jay questioned, "Wait, no no, don't go into the light Zane!"

"Is it done?" Zane breathed weakly, looking up. 

He startled slightly when he saw his teammates. He blinked a couple of times before shakily standing up.

"Er, Dr. Julien?" Zane called, shying away from his teammates. 

 His eyes flitted around, looking very scared and filled with unmeasurable pain.

"Zane? Are you okay?" Lloyd asked gently, unsure of what state the nindroid was in.

He reached a hand out, offering to help him as he was swaying unsteadily on his feet. Zane looked wearily at it before accepting it. Zane leaned cautiously against Lloyd, looking drained.

"Where is my father?" Zane asked, "What happened to my home?"

He glanced around at the desolate wasteland that he was now standing in.

"And my chest still hurts." He groaned clutching his chest.

"Still hurt?" Jay echoed, "You blew up. And somehow you're back in you're original form. Maybe it's a delayed process?"

"Original from...Blew up?" Zane echoed, eyes widening.

He turned around, alerted to the sound of Cryus's creaky wheelchair noises as he wheeled himself over to the group. Zane pulled away from Lloyd, taking a couple steps back. He sneezed, covering his mouth with his elbow; however that didn't stop the spray of ice that crystallized around him at his feet.

"I apologize. Please don't be afraid. It's just a little ice." Zane said, carefully watching their reactions.

"We know," Jay smiled earning a very puzzled look from Zane.

"I need... I need to find my father." He said, turning and looking the around, "Do you happened to know where Birchwood Forest is?"

"It's somewhere to the South." Jay shrugged, "But-"

"Thanks," Zane said curtly.

He looked like he was about to run, but his brothers surrounded him.

"Woah, take it easy frosty," Cole said, gently offering the shaky nindroid a shoulder.

"I think maybe something has damaged his processors. Zane would you open your hatch, I want to take a look." Jay said conclusively.

"Open my hatch?" Zane said very distrustfully.

"We're your brothers. You're a nindroid, remember? Here let me-" Jay said reaching for his chest.

Zane jerked back, looking very distraught. He clutched his chest, coughing and choking. Cole caught him as he fell, letting him slowly down to rest on the ground.

"I've always wanted brothers," Zane said a small smile eclipsing his face before it snapped back into a serious mood, "I need to find my father. Dr. Julien."

"Zane. Dr. Julien has passed on for a little while now," Lloyd said solemnly.

"Dead?" Zane's head whipped around to meet Lloyd's eyes, "Dad's dead?"

"He lived a very fulfilling life. And died with the happiness knowing he found you." Cole comforted him, wondering how bad of amnesia Zane had.

"He can't be dead he was right next to me. He didn't....he didn't...." Zane started to cough again, going even paler than he already was.

"Didn't what," Jay asked, wondering if there was another altercation by the changing of the past, "What didn't happen?"

Cole caught Zane's head turning it so that the nindroid had to look at him rather than frantically around.

"He didn't what?" Cole firmly asked.

Shadows passed over Zane's face making him look almost deathly. They peeked out from under his eyes and the lines on his face.

"I'm dying." Zane said, "He said he was going to fix it."

"Fix what?" Jay asked, getting a weird feeling.

"He said he would make it all better. He said he would save me. Never told me how." Zane concluded, "He can't be dead. He was alive and well a second ago."

"You're not an android." Cole breathed.

Zane gave him a confused looked, "Why would I be an android?"

Jay let out a gasp, while Lloyd turned his head away to conceal whatever look went across his face. They couldn't imagine what had happened. How Dr. Julien had managed to cram his son into a glowing chunk of who knows what.

"What are you dying from?" Cole asked.

"It's from-"

The world seized, lagging for a second. With a blink, the technology filled skyscrapers came back, flooding the sky with lights and reflective mirrors.

"Ugh," Zane groaned, "Something must have messed with my temporal scanners. There must have been another time jump. Is everyone alright?"

He turned to face his teammates, facial features etched in titanium once more with his power source blinking from the side of his gi. He gave them a look of confusion when he met their faces, wondering what could have caused the shocked, horrified, and saddened looks they were giving him.

"What's going on," Zane asked, immediately running a scan of everyone and the surrounding area.

"Nothing," Cole said, "We were just a little unnerved."

Zane gave them a look that one could easily tell that he didn't quite believe the answer he was given; however, he didn't question it and instead turn his attention to Kai's father who wasn't looking well at all.

"What are we going to say?" Lloyd whispered to Cole and Jay.

"Nothing," Cole stated, his answer as solid as the power he controlled.

They nodded and Jay walked over to assist in any way he could with Zane and Ray.

"So Zane, anyway I can help," Jay asked.

"We need a time blade." Zane shook his head, "Nothing can reverse this."

"Haha, 'reverse'" Jay laughed more nervously than anything.

"You wish to ask me something," Zane cut to the chase, "What is it?"

"Wow, your sixth sense caught that?" Jay asked, shooting a glance at Lloyd and Cole.

"No," Zane smiled, "It's written all over your face."

"Just a question," Jay started off, "Do you remember being built by your father? I mean the actual building process?"

Zane made a thinking face and Jay could almost see him pulling up memories and information.

"No," Zane sighed, "I mean, I was spare parts until my father put me together. I don't think nuts and bolts can feel, Jay. That would be very immortal otherwise."

"Oh, okay," Jay said.

"Anything else?" Zane asked, knowing there was more Jay wanted to tell him. Usually, however, he didn't have to pry it out of him, instead, try to stop the unending flow that poured out of his mouth.

"No, thanks, Zane," Jay smiled, staring at his blue power source.

He gave Zane a hug, burying his face in the ninja's white adornments. Zane shrugged and hugged him back, wondering what had happened during the temporal time disturbance.

Then there was a noise followed by Kai and Nya falling out of the sky.


End file.
